Bahrain Grand Prix 2026 Malaysia Media Day: Verstappen Targets One Win as Mercedes Bring Upgrade, Stroll Puts Aston Martin’s Engine Gap at Up to Two Seconds

Max Verstappen arrived at the Bahrain Grand Prix 2026 Malaysia media day with one target left for this season: a win. Over the last three Grands Prix he has outscored Ferrari and McLaren as teams. He still pointed straight past both of them to Mercedes, who bring an upgrade to Sepang with no details released on what it is. Red Bull aren’t in the title fight, and Verstappen says the run of different tracks ahead is about learning for next year. Nico Hülkenberg thinks Audi can score here. Oliver Bearman says Haas’ car-to-car inconsistency has calmed since Monza and he’s ready to lead the team when Esteban Ocon leaves. Lance Stroll put Aston Martin’s engine deficit at up to two seconds a lap. Pierre Gasly and Arvid Lindblad both pointed to the sky. Nobody on the grid has run a wet session in anger this season, and Sepang is the track where that could change.

Key Points – Bahrain Grand Prix 2026 Malaysia Media Day

• Verstappen targets at least one win this year and calls Mercedes the fastest team as they bring an upgrade to Sepang
• Audi’s Baku update felt like a clear step forward in the corners, and Hülkenberg believes points are possible at Sepang
• Haas’ car-to-car inconsistency has calmed since the Monza upgrade, with Bearman ready to lead the team after Ocon leaves
• Stroll, confirmed for 2027, puts Aston Martin’s engine deficit at between one and two seconds a lap
• Gasly calls the Baku clash with Colapinto settled and backs Alpine to beat Racing Bulls to fifth
• Lindblad rules out a top five or podium, with the top teams further clear of the midfield than in recent years

Max Verstappen

A day after his birthday, Verstappen walked back into the paddock where he took his second Formula 1 win. He had no idea where he had to go. It’s been too long, he said. He always liked this layout, even with the heat and high degradation making it physically uncomfortable.

Over the last three Grands Prix, Verstappen alone has outscored Ferrari and McLaren as teams. He didn’t take the compliment. Red Bull aren’t outscoring Mercedes, he said, and Mercedes are the fastest, “or at least they were for most of the season.”

The parts Red Bull fitted in Baku worked. He was quick to add that Baku has always suited them: 90-degree corners, not many high-speed ones. The next few tracks will show what the car is really like. He said that’s useful anyway. Red Bull aren’t fighting for the championship, so these races are a learning curve for next year’s car.

Mercedes bring an upgrade to Sepang. No details have been released on what it is. Normally an upgrade makes a car faster, and with Mercedes already at the pace they’re at, it will probably be very tricky, he said. Asked which of the final races suit Red Bull, he said nobody knows, because everyone keeps bringing parts. “As long as I win one, that would be nice.”

On Sepang’s energy demands, the simulator put it somewhere in the middle. Not the worst, not the best. The bigger factor for him is the roughness of the surface. High tyre degradation feeds into deployment too, and that leaves a few unknowns with these cars. On the heat, he said you go in the sauna if you really want it hot. “You just need to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.”

Away from Formula 1, he confirmed he’ll race for Verstappen Racing at Portimão in two weeks, with two of his regular drivers unavailable. Asked about Abu Dhabi and Qatar, he said he trusts F1 and the FIA to make the right call. On Imola in December as the backup: “There are worse places to be in the wintertime than in Imola.”

Nico Hülkenberg

Hülkenberg scored his first Formula 1 points at Sepang in 2010. He gave the Bahraini organisers credit for the feel they’ve built in the paddock, down to the furniture and the staff. His read on the track: technical, flowing, mostly medium and high speed with a couple of slow corners. Hot. Rough tarmac. Degradation will play a role on Sunday, and so might the odd monsoon shower.

Audi’s big update arrived in Baku. It felt like a clear step forward in the corners, he said. Baku’s problem was straight-line speed, and this run of tracks is different.

Asked how much extra training he’d done for three races in seven days in this heat, his answer was short. They’ve been travelling and racing. “Well, we drive. That’s training.” Physical, he said, but manageable.

Oliver Bearman

Bearman has never driven Sepang. He was in cadet karting the last time Formula 1 raced here. He hasn’t walked the track yet and might take a scooter because of the heat. The plan is to pick the brains of Ocon, who raced here in his first two seasons, reserve driver Ryo, and the Haas engineers who were here back then. He also warned the surface has changed a lot in nearly ten years, so their knowledge might not carry over.

Ocon leaves Haas at the end of the season. Bearman called him a great team-mate and said it’s a shame to see him go. What he learned most from Ocon was how a Formula 1 driver works with the team. In F2 you’re almost a client and get told what to do. Step up and the team looks to you for direction on development. Now he’s looking at a new role as the most experienced driver in the team, and he says he’s ready for it.

Then there’s the problem Haas have carried all year: inconsistency between the two cars and even in the same car from one day to the next, without changing parts. He said: “from one weekend to the next, even one day to the next, not changing parts, we can have differences in car performance compared to the other car, but also compared to your own car.”

Since the Monza upgrade, things have calmed down a little, he said. Baku showed both sides. FP1 felt poor and he was strapping in for a long weekend. Haas changed a few parts and it turned into a good one. He said the team still doesn’t understand why it happens.

He also flagged the weather. This weekend could be the first time anyone runs the inters and the wets in anger this year. He hasn’t heard a lot of good things from those who’ve tested them. Warmer conditions here might make them easier, but it’s a question mark for everybody.

Lance Stroll

Stroll is confirmed at Aston Martin for 2027, his 11th season. He thinks the car will get a lot better. The team has a plan and a good direction for adding downforce, but the engine is the big question mark. Nobody knows where Aston will be at the start of next year.

Aston used its second additional development upgrade opportunity in Madrid, on his car. Asked if it felt better: “Not much.” Tracks with long straights are worse for them. Budapest, all corners and few straights, was probably their best race of the year. Drivability is the big limitation, and then straight-line power.

He said Aston started development for the new regulations late compared to everyone else. Budapest brought a big step on the car side and gave them a clear direction. On engine they’re lacking between a second and two seconds, depending on the track, every weekend. Asked whether Aston would ever move away from Honda, he said they’re working together to get it right and have some ideas for next year. Honda are pushing flat out, he said. Time will tell.

On Ocon losing his Haas seat, Stroll was blunt. “Formula 1’s not always fair,” he said. He raced against Ocon in the junior categories and in karting, and said he only wishes him the best.

Pierre Gasly

Gasly made his Formula 1 debut here in 2017, replacing Daniil Kvyat. Walking into the paddock on Thursday morning brought the flashbacks. As a kid he did more laps of Sepang on his PlayStation than any other track. Asked about the challenge in a 2026 car, he answered in two words: “Mainly the sky.” It’s unpredictable and stormy here, and he sees that as a big opportunity for everyone.

Baku is done, he said. Franco Colapinto braked too late, lost control and Gasly was the car he hit. Colapinto came to apologise. Gasly said he slept on it for a couple of days and moved on, because Alpine need both of them to finish fifth this year. Asked whether Alpine have the car to beat Racing Bulls to fifth, he said one word. “Yeah.”

There hasn’t been a wet session this season. Gasly’s only experience of the wet tyres was in January at Silverstone, which he called horrendous, and at Magny-Cours in extremely cold conditions. Sepang is rough, hot and has some elevation, so he expects the water to clear quickly. On Ocon, he pointed to almost 200 starts and said a tough season isn’t all down to him.

Arvid Lindblad

Lindblad was nine in 2017, in his second year of British karting, watching this race from the sofa with his dad. He watched the highlights again on Wednesday and remembered all of it. Friday will be his first lap of Sepang.

The sim says energy won’t be too bad. He thinks overtaking will be on the easier side and the boost relatively powerful on this layout. He couldn’t try the rain, because it’s hard to replicate in the sim. On Baku, he’s apologised to Liam, the team has talked it through and he knows what he’d do differently. His 2027 seat isn’t confirmed. He’s been with Red Bull since he was 13, is happy with his rookie year and has no concerns about his future.

Asked about a top five or a podium before the end of the year, he said it would take a crazy storm and lucky pit timing. “But realistically, it’s not on the cards.”

Coffee Corner Take

Verstappen has outscored Ferrari and McLaren as teams across the last three Grands Prix, and his target for the rest of the season is one win. With Red Bull out of the title fight, a win is what’s left to chase. He didn’t dress it up.

Red Bull’s best run of the year arrives on the same weekend Mercedes bring an upgrade, and Mercedes have been the benchmark for much of the season. Verstappen said it himself: an upgrade normally makes a car faster, and that will probably make it very tricky. Baku suited Red Bull. Sepang is the first test of whether that step holds on a different kind of track.

Sepang brings rough tarmac and high degradation that feeds into deployment. And rain can arrive quickly here. Nobody has raced on the wets this season. Bearman hasn’t heard much good about them. Lindblad needs a storm to dream about a podium. Verstappen needs a lot less. He’s already beating Ferrari and McLaren on points.

If Mercedes’ upgrade delivers on Friday, Verstappen’s task could get harder again, at a stage of the season when there aren’t many chances left. If the rain arrives, Sepang could give him the opening he needs.